So, the start of a new year and a time to celebrate another anniversary for the Mars Exploration Rovers - SEVEN YEARS ON MARS!

While we may not have heard from Spirit for a while, that doesn't mean that she is not still with us, and of course Opportunity is keeping busy and delighting us after a distance-record breaking year.

You can see the new Forum banner above and as has sort of become custom - Stu and I have collaborated on a new 'poemster' ('poem/poster' thanks for that word Emily) to mark this anniversary for 'Our Favorite Martians'

There are larger versions available at my blog including MER@7 logo wallpapers.

These designs and words are dedicated to the Men and Women of the Mars Exploration Rover mission.Without your vision, persistence and love, this great adventure on Mars would not have been possible.Thank you.

Thanks Astro0 for yet *another* simply beautiful logo and the new banner, both of which are exquisite and epic in equal measure, I'm sure everyone will agree. And a personal thanks for the breathtaking job you did on our 'poemster', illustrating my words so dramatically. Every one of those images brings back a flood of memories, doesn't it? Seven years, unbelievable, just unbelievable...

For anyone who just wants a text version of the poem, here it is:

SEVEN

Seven years ago, a few sols apart, two shooting stars,Bright as falling angels, pierced an alien cinnamon-hued night,Dropping onto Barsoom robot Lewis and ClarksWhich have now spent more time ‘alive’ on MarsThan on Earth and have shown us more of AresThan even Bradbury dared to dream:

The Columbia Hills, conquered, glowing goldIn the mid-day marmalade light;Meteorites glinting in the distanceOn the very edge of sight; Rocks the shape of sharks’ teeth,Fossilised brains and bears; layersOf ancient stone piled storeys-highBeneath a crater’s crumbling edge;Dust as dark as powdered coal blownInto folds and waves; a midnight sky ablazeWith stars after another ‘longest drive’ day –

And Earth, the distant Homeworld, reducedTo a sapphire sequin that fades, fades, fades…

Strange and humbling to thinkThe far future Mars will be a true New World,A world just as wonderful as ours,With its own poets and pilgrims, generalsAnd gentlemen; navies will clash on its terraformedSeas while screaming armies swarm over Olympus’ heights;Tortured songwriters will sit on obsidian roofs,Kicking at martian moss and staring into a twin moon sky;And lovers will stand on a canyon’s crumbling edgeAt dawn, yawning, watching the ice blue Sun riseThrough the Marineris mists and ‘kiss’Through their visors’ dust-etched glass…

As the aeons pass Mars will haveA million Emperors and kings; a hundred thousandBloody wars will be fought over great And little things; nations will rise and heroesWill fall, Terra’s Tale told all over again.But as long as a single heart beats on BarsoomNo-one will ever forget the names“Spirit” and “Opportunity”.Wild-haired Cydonian composers will penSoul-stirring symphonies inspired by them.Families will follow their legendary routesAcross the lonely deserts of Mars;Walk in their vanished-long-ago tracks; Pose for pictures beside Wopmay; edge slowlyDown into Duck Bay to touch Cape Verde’s Vandalised Stone, perhaps scratching into itGraffiti of their own…

But for now they are ours, They belong to us - the rover-hugging horde,The fans whose hands dance over the keyboards Of computers in bedrooms and dens, officesAnd schools, around the world, waiting Breathlessly for the next download of raws, allHopelessly in love with the rust- and ochre-paintedWorld that is the rovers’strawberry-sanded wonderland.

It's easy to forget sometimes how priviliged we all are to have been VIP passengers on this incredible voyage of discovery and exploration. But it's only because of the hard work, determination and sheer stubbornness/bloody mindedness of Jim Bell, Steve Squyres, Scott Maxwell, Paolo and countless, countless others that we've all been able to stand by the railings on the MER mission and see Mars drifting past with our own eyes. It's easy to take it for granted sometimes that we can just wander over to our PCs, sit down with a cup of coffee and browse the latest images *of another planet*, often just hours after they were taken. But that is an enormous privilege, one that was fought for by people already mentioned, and every image is a gold nugget to be treasured. It's easy to convince ourselves that tomorrow will be no different from today, that Oppy will keep rolling, and the pictures will keep rolling in. But over the horizon is a black, black day when everyone here will go online and find that it's all come to a halt, that both rovers are dead, the last image has been returned from Mars by a rover, and this grand adventure has ended. So, as we celebrate seven years, everyone please take a moment to say "Thank you", in your own way, to the men and women who have given us a new Mars, and who have let us sit next to them, looking over their shoulder, while they've done it.

Has anyone made a movie of Opportunity's entire journey thus far? I'd sure like to compose a soundtrack for it! I did a thing for Spirit after 343 sols, it's on www.myspace.com/neochopin. It'd be even more fun to incorporate both Spirit & Opportunity into a symphony-length piece!

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Families will follow their legendary routesAcross the lonely deserts of Mars;Walk in their vanished-long-ago tracks;

What a wonderful image - future Martians walking the routes of the long-ago rovers!Wow, now I wish I could do it myself, like the day I walked the (much shorter) distance of the Wright Brothers' first four flights in order to feel the first flights for myself.

I'm looking forward to the path being set to music with video, so I can at least take a *virtual* walk in the path of the rovers.Thanks to Stu and Astro0 !

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